Full House

It wasn’t exactly the 9,000 that I anticipated, but you could practically hear a pin drop at the Rogers Centre earlier this afternoon. There were times when I was talking to my friend and I was afraid I going to be “shushed” because it was so damn quiet.

Luckily there was a healthy afternoon crowd of 11,461 on hand to watch Brett Cecil’s final start of the season. As I had hoped, Cecil put in a good performance and hurled six strong innings to pick up his seventh win of the season.

When I quickly glanced at the starting lineup, I knew it was going to be a weird afternoon because Joe Inglett was in the leadoff spot and Travis Snider was bumped up to the number two slot. Aside from that, the lineup looked pretty typical following a night game. For the most part it was a game of small ball with just the two solo home runs, one courtesy of Jose Bautista which The Bautista Appreciation Society very much appreciated.

So Jeremy Accardo made his highly anticipated first appearance since being sent down to Las Vegas for the second time, and naturally Cito Gaston had him on a short leash. Accardo started off by walking Nick Harris, but then the Blue Jays got the lead runner at second base. Gaston used three relievers to get three outs in the seventh inning, which seems a little taxing on the bullpen if you ask me. Jeremy is a big boy and he can certainly get himself out of an inning with one out and a runner on first base. Carlson ended up balking the runner to second base anyway.

Overall, it was a close game but a great game because it’s nice to see a low-scoring matchup every once in a while. Not only was it a great game on the field, but the hipster that sat a few rows in front of us provided some between-innings distractions with his badass moustache. Rollie Fingers would have been proud if he saw that cookie duster in person.

Ian Hunter

Ian has been writing about the Toronto Blue Jays since 2007. He enjoyed the tail-end of the Roy Halladay era and vividly remembers the Alex Rodriguez "mine" incident. He'll also retell the story of Game 5 of the ALDS to his son for the next 20 years.

The picture isn't really that detailed, but it was actually one of those staches that had curls at the end. Kudos to that guy for rocking it – at first I thought it was a fake, but who wears a fake moustache to the ballpark all game long unless you're a Sal Fasano fan?

I think most people forgot there was a game on today too, apparently it wasn't even televised. Too much stuff going on this week (tennis, NFL, rock/paper/scissors championships) according to the networks.

As is often the case, especially for day games, I was checking this one in the box score. Surprise, surprise, Cito found some way to get Carlson out there. Funny thing about managing though – bad decisions stand out if the team loses but not so much if they win. I'm a bit fickle that way too … I don't hate the Accardo decision, but I'd probably let fly if Carlson had given up a 2-run jack.This one still looks a bit like a slightly "flexible" Cito to me … maybe I'm wrong.

QJays, I think the only reason Cito went to Carlson was the lefty/lefty matchup. Oddly enough, he would've been better off leaving Accardo in there because Accardo holds lefties to a .138 AVG.

Dave, I will have to submit that pic for sure!

DS, maybe Cito Gaston is picking up the Joe Maddon book of management.

Mattt, Morneau hasn't been the same ever since his ear infection and I don't know what's up with Mauer. Unless they both heat up the last few weeks of the season, their chances of winning the AL MVP are fading very quickly.